Archives for April 2017

LeGrow offers extra functionalities with a few extra benefits to human health

Scientific research is concluding what we already knew: being in a space with plants is good for us. Apart from cleaning the air, plants help to reduce stress, and people with plants on their desks have been found to be significantly more productive than those who don’t.

Solving the Problems of Indoor Pot Plants and Their Owners?

There are a couple of problems though: plants aren’t well-adapted to growing indoors, you don’t want water and potting medium all over your workspace, and you can’t have your plants taking up too much room.

Now, a clever inventor has come up with the LeGrow system, a neat solution that solves these problems – with a few extra benefits to human health.

Don’t you just hate it when your plants die? But why do indoor plants give up the ghost? Growers have known the fatal four factors for many years:

Recommendation

The smart little plant pots address these issues to a large extent. Instead of draining out or being left to rot roots, excess water collects in a reservoir at the base of the container. As the soil dries, the water can move up again into the soil through capillary action, so if you skipped your regular watering day, there’s a much bigger chance that your plant will survive the abuse.

Of course, this neat water storage system also eliminates the risk of water draining out all over your furniture or electronics, soil mess beneath the pot, and inconvenient drip trays.

A grow lamp allows you to give your plant sufficient light to keep growing even in dark winters and artificially lit offices, and the cherry on the top is a little humidifier. The latter isn’t just good for your plants; it’s also good for you. Dry air causes respiratory tract inflammation, itchy eyes, and dry skin, so by making your environment better for plants, you’re also making it better for yourself.

LED Grow Lamp Generates up to 50,000 Lux

Every space and every plant is different, but the LeGrow system allows you to clip the pots together into a modular garden of your own design. It’s like Lego for indoor gardeners. Make your pots taller or shorter, clip them together in a variety of designs and shapes. You can have lots of fun creating your planting design. The results are always neat, always pleasing, and a definite décor asset for homes and offices.

All This, and You Can Charge Your Phone Too

Since your pots are now desktop items that won’t leak water, adding extra functionality makes sense. The PowerPot base has four USB ports for charging up your electronics. There’s even a quick charge port for smartphones! Whether you’re using it on your office desk or have chosen LeGrow to brighten up a side table, you’re sure to get a kick out of plugging your electronics into a plant pot.

(LeGrow)

Interestingly, Haobin Lin, the inventor of the system has made a prototype plant pot that powers a small clock through the chemical reactions of the plants themselves. What comes next? Perhaps the plants will power their own lights, humidifiers and USB chargers in future decades.

It’s everyone’s dream to have a roof over their head. However, that roof can turn into a nightmare if it’s one which leaks, breaks or heats up the interior to dangerous levels in a hot climate like that of India. A new low-cost and eco-friendly roofing system, called ModRoof, is driving many such nightmares under cover for those Indians who live in poverty in urban slums. And there’s a good chance the roofing system will soon include solar panels, too.

Solving Existing Roofing Problems

Recommendation

Up till now, Indians living in poverty-stricken areas have mainly been making use of metal or concrete sheets to cover their houses. However, dwellers in these units claim they face major problems, including severe heat because of lack of insulation; and deterioration leading to leaks, when using metal or concrete sheets.

Noise levels and leaks are at their highest levels during the monsoon season. Concrete slabs are occasionally chosen as the most workable option but are considered too expensive and difficult to install for most people in small villages or slum areas.

Leakage test (ReMaterials)

According to ModRoof’s manufacturers, start-up company ReMaterials, their new modular roof system deals with many of these problems by being strong, waterproof, fireproof – and likely to last for 20 years. It is also claimed to be quieter and more effective during monsoons, as well as more affordable than concrete slabs.

Recycling Waste Into Modular Roofs

So what makes up ModRoof? Agricultural and cardboard waste, locally-sourced from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, are the primary materials. These are recycled into modular units which are designed for ease of transport and installation – and so only individual units need replacement should there be damage. The flat rectangular units, which come standard in aqua, are joined together on site, and are supported on beams.

ModRoof installation (ReMaterials)

Working in Indian villages and slums on housing and solar energy installations inspired Hasit Ganatra, a University of South California engineering graduate, and now co-founder of ReMaterials, to come up with this more affordable and effective roofing system.

Solar Panels Part of ModRoof’s Future Plans

Around 70 installations have been made in Ahmedabad so far, but the company says it is ready to leave start-up stage and go for wider markets – perhaps, entering markets in other developing countries, like Brazil, Morocco or Mexico.

ModRoof is also not stopping with just covering houses. The company is also intent on providing a source of power to those in rural and low-income areas. ReMaterials has already developed a way to incorporate solar panels in its roofing units so that those living under them will be able to charge cell phones and power LED lights.

Since 1976, the UN has recognized the ecological difficulties that ever-growing urbanization places on the environment, and indeed, on the inhabitants of cities. People continue to move to urban areas in the hope of improving their economic situation. The evidence shows that relocation can work in their favor, but it can also result in extreme poverty and increased vulnerability to disease and natural disasters.

Recommendation

With this in mind, the UN World Cities Report has identified the sustainability of cities as a priority, and in so doing, the interface between human communities and the environment cannot be ignored.

Ecological Difficulties: Four Primary Areas of Concern Identified

With an increase in the incidence and intensity of natural disasters, it is impossible to ignore the fact that their effect on impoverished urbanites is disproportionately high. Basics like access to clean water must be provided – but this will come at a price that may include biodiversity loss. The balance between human well-being and an environment that is able to sustain it will call for far-sighted measures.

1. Equal access to resources and public services

Superficially, this may seem like an “easy” goal, but with increasing demand for limited resources, the poor are often left behind. Extending resource bases and services has a direct impact on the environment. For example, a growing world population places increasing pressure on fresh water resources. To achieve sustainability, city planners must carefully gauge the impact of their decisions on both current and future generations while reducing the vulnerability of the urban poor.

2. Managing environmental hazards

In a changing climate, environmental hazards may be difficult to identify, but urban planners must make provision for worst-case scenarios. The Refugee Studies Center warns that large-scale environment-linked migration and displacement are distinct possibilities. To protect citizens, cities may need to move residents of high-risk areas to safer ground, with the provision of adequate sanitation being among the priorities to be considered.

4. A new look at resource consumption

With global warming directly attributable to our use of carbon-based fuels, cities face the task of ameliorating their contribution to the problem. This will imply strategies such as a move towards renewable energy sources; tighter regulation of emissions from industries; and carbon-fixing initiatives such as urban greening programs.

UN Identifies 10 Strategic Areas for Sustainable Cities

Ecological difficulties for cities are nothing new, but the need to address them becomes all the more pressing with each passing year. The UN suggests the following strategic areas that cities must address in order to create sustainable human environments.

Social justice, wise resource use, and the amelioration of environmental impacts in consideration of cultural issues will all contribute to greater urban sustainability. The ecological difficulties of cities must be addressed since their impact on the well-being of humanity has become undeniable.